Halcyon Eyes, Black Mirror, Death Parade
by ChocolateCarnival
Summary: A love transcendent of fate, a bond to last for eternity. Destiny should have ensured that the Shiba Twins were guarded from bloodied betrayal and harsh reality. However, with Seireitei bent on keeping them apart, the story of Ichigo and Kyou have become wrapped in tragedy and twisted with despair. With the Reiōkyū setting out to right that wrong, perhaps they can start over. Yaoi


Hello, my Honeys. It took me a while to get this one in order even when I was so inspired to write it. I'm sorry that it took a while, I had some minor surgery a few days ago and I'm still in quite a bit of pain and discomfort. It's not easy to concentrate but this story just had to be written. I couldn't even hold it back, it simply consumed me.

Oh well, the month of love has begun so brace yourselves for the coming stories. This one is considerably dark, so please be warned…it is not for the faint of heart. There is another Valentines story after this one with a Mugetsu x Fem/Ichigo pairing if I can manage it but this one is the start of February. Please note:

Kyou is **not** **an OC**, he **IS** Ichigo's Vasto Lorde form written as Ichigo's twin. This story is selfcest so please heed the warnings below:

**Halcyon Eyes, Black Mirror, Death Parade contains: M/M Lemons, Heavy Angst, Violence, Torture, Dark Themes, Evil! Soul Society, a switch pairing**…meaning that Ichigo _can _end up dominant and Kyou submissive. **Noble! Ichigo, Partial Arrancar! Kyou, AU Setting** with **Canon Facts, Incest, Twincest, Elements of Selfcest,** **Controversial Themes** and **Trauma**.

The Set Pairing is: **Shiba Kyou (**志波 狂**) x Shiba Ichigo** (志波 一護**)** [Possible Switch Pairing]

So, there you have it. Please, if any of the warnings have put you off…please don't read any further. I will not held responsible for you beyond this point.

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**Halcyon Eyes, Black Mirror, Death Parade:**

狂 - Kyou. The kanji relative to 'insanity'. With a name that unconsciously sculpted the very character of his existence when brought into this world, the oldest son of the Noble Shiba Family had never been blessed with good fortune or fair fate. Kyou was considered the bane of all Shinigami, an insult to the hundreds of pureblood nobles that made up his clan for many generations before him and a monster that should have been sealed away the instant he had been born several hundred years before. If not for Otou-sama's steadfast insistence that the eldest Shiba twin would remain Heir to the clan no matter _what_ the source of his power, the long haired orangette was sure that he would have ended up in the Muken long before he had been old enough to wield a sword or the Oyaji had disappeared into the Human World for a whimsical trip. Leaving the prestigious family without a leader and the looming threat that the current Heir (a bakemono (1*) that had inherited the Hollow taint of his mother's blood) would take over as the 34th Head, the family advisors had astutely refused to obey Shiba Isshin's wishes _regardles_s of the older being holding an unshakable sway over most of the Gotei-13, the Five Noble Families and the Royal Guards of Reiōkyū combined. No son of Shiba Isshin that carried the startling appearance of a deadly Arrancar was going to be offered the title that he was born into rightfully.

According to the official records that were kept in the Great Spirit Library, Shiba Kyou was deceased. He had presumably died on the battlefield whilst fighting the traitor Aizen several years ago at the age of fifteen. Valiantly having sacrificed himself for his twin brother when an underhanded attack threatened the younger Shinigami's life, the Shiba Heir had sustained a fatal wound to the heart and passed away several days later. It was no lie that Kyou had shielded Ichigo from a mortal wound by accepting the enemy's Zanpactō through his chest, but anyone who had stood in the presence of his all-encompassing reiatsu before would not have been stupid enough to believe that he would die from an injury like that. Especially since his 'heart' disintegrated to form an Arrancar mask when he released his true strength. He could still remember the terrified despair of not being unable to move though, as golden eyes had watched the rest of the battle from the rubble of a war-torn Seireitei. The instant that his little brother had shattered Aizen's soul by stepping into another plane of existence, Kyou had been utterly mesmerized as not even a single speck of the Shinigami's soul had been left in reiatsu blackened heavens. Through all his pain and numerous injuries, the older of the two had eventually found enough strength to cross the distance that separated them and cradled Ichigo's head in his lap so that he could soothe away the excruciating pain that wielding 'Mugetsu' had caused.

It was no surprise that transcendent power of _that_ level had come with a heavy price, a sacrifice that had very nearly stole away his eternal beloved's life whilst Kyou had been unable to do anything except watch. And when the despairing screams and cries of pain had become too much for him to bear, he had leant down instinctively and initiated an intimate caress to hopefully distract the beautiful thigh-length blackette from his anguish. What transpired in return was the catalyst that had shattered several decades of deep unrequited love, taboo desires and forbidden lust between them. The sensual sensation of petal pink lips sliding intimately with his own, thick thigh-length black locks splaying all around him in a curtain of silk as Ichigo straddled his lap and soft strands, flowing like water betwixt black-nailed fingertips, had forged an eternal reiatsu bond between them that could never be broken by malicious fate. Somehow they saved each other's lives that day by splitting their pain, halving their injuries and mixing their powers so closely together that they became irrevocably linked. With their strings of fate twined in an unbreakable oath, their love was so pure and heady that it was utterly intoxicating and blinding for anyone that possessed devious intent to witness. Sadly however, Soul Society would never see the unique and startlingly sensual bond that bound them as anything_ but_ a threat to the entirety of Soul Society's unchanged and millennia-old existence.

A mere whisper of the truth would have been enough to ensure the social disgrace of the entire Shiba Clan, after all. And the assured destruction of a family that had been in power since the formation of Three World thousands of millennia before, was not something the Central 46 would permit regardless of Kyou's status as official Heir to the noble family. So in merciless retaliation, the political advisors and several Gotei-13 Captains had employed the Onmitsukidō's underhanded services to capture the oldest of the Shiba twins and seal him away in the Muken. In return, Shiba Ichigo had simultaneously been made to believe that his beloved Kyou-nii had died from his injuries whilst the younger twin had recovered from his clash with the former Gobantai-Taichō in a month long coma. To them, it simply did not matter that they were breaking the twins apart by separating them forcefully and inviting the wrath of two deadly beings that could very easily destroy Seireitei if they so willed it. Kyou would have escaped his prison _long_ ago if it wasn't for one little fact, the Soutaichō (his very own great-grandfather), reminding him constantly that his Otouto would be executed for crimes he had never committed in Kyou's place if he so much as tried to overpower his guards. Ichigo may have been exceptionally strong before the Winter War had started and more than capable of standing up for himself, but the younger of the two had sacrificed his Shinigami powers to protect them all _that_ day.

Now it fell on Kyou's shoulders to shield and protect little Ichi from harm, even if it was from their own malicious family and the cruelty of a false imprisonment. There was a reason _why_ he had been born first, it did not matter that he had to sacrifice his freedom and valiantly conceal his growing bitterness. The older of the two _refused_ to make things worse for his eternal Beloved than they already were. It was enough that the younger orangette had to mourn the loss of his other half and live without his eternal love by his side, he deserved whatever peace he could find away from the influence of the government and the filthy politics of a corrupt society. The only problem was Kyou: 狂. The essence of his name, the very _root_ of his existence that had been instilled within him since birth, was dimming any brief link to sanity that he had left. Down here in the voided space of a Shinigami made hell, where only pitch black darkness and the cries of the damned echoed dimly into a vast caverned space, there existed only eternal despair and dark anguish for those who possessed even the briefest glimmer of hope. The awakening instincts of an Arrancar power was already stirring more and more intensely inside him, spilling over into his awareness even when Tensa Zangetsu was shattered and there was nowhere to seal away his uncontainable reiatsu and stop it from tearing apart the other prisoners and guards with its ruthless rage.

Bound with reishi sealing bonds, drugged, injured, tortured both mentally and physically and humiliated by the twisted sadists that guarded the Muken, it did not matter that Kyou was infinitely stronger than all those around him and could easily escape the prison with a single concentrated cero. Hissing in pain when several strained movements struggled to push himself onto his elbows, pain-glazed golden eyes scanned the small expanse of a white stone chamber that was dyed red with flowing rivers of sickening carmine as only a torn hakama and the sleeve of a floor length Bankai cloak was left of a once elegant Shinigami garment. The dual Bankai form that he had shared with his twin brother, Ichigo, along with a Zanpactō that held the exact same name and range of power, meant that the Shiba twins were a unique pair of souls that just loved spitting in the face of millennia old Shinigami traditions and perfect conduct. The only difference that set them apart was the way that Ichigo and Kyou wielded their powers. Ichigo was clearly a Shinigami that was cursed with a Hollow's power and Kyou was a Hollow that was tainted with a Shinigami's power. The indiscernible strength of the Arrancar that had attacked their mother before they had been born, had been passed down through her blood into her sons' and marked them as a strange mixture of Yin and Yang, life and death, the sun and the moon and ultimately a Shinigami and a Hollow.

Curling a trembling grip around Tensa Zangetsu's red and black hilt, Kyou listened intently to a tinkling heavenly chain that resounded against stone walls as he dragged the shattered katana towards his side and whimpered pitifully when only a hollow emptiness and despair greeted his touch. Ever since Ichigo had used the 'Mugetsu' technique two years ago, the spirit that used to dwell in both their swords had vanished and splintered the pitch black katana that belonged to Kyou. He had spent _so_ long searching for any connection to his beloved through the broken Zanpactō the higher-ups had left with him to torture and shatter his hope more. But with his senses dulled, his powers sealed and his body heavily drugged to make him more 'complaint' to the Central 46's will, it was near impossible for the oldest Shiba to put together a coherent sentence and protect his soul from harm on most days. Lying in a vast pool of his own sticky, drying, blood; several heaving coughs were painting the white floor with splatters of deep carmine as a depleted reiatsu struggled to seal a painful array of katana wounds that his rapid regeneration could not heal and his self-preservation instincts did not deem deadly enough to cause death. The torture room was white for a reason, it was created specifically so that the prisoners could see just how much blood they had lost and despair in pain when they realized no one would ever find them here and they would never escape the darkness of their immortal anguish.

'Nah, Ichi…' Kyou coughed with great strain, barely managing to shuffle backwards so that his spine could press against the cool wall for support as intense golden eyes fluttered half-mast for several moments of thought and clawed fingers curled and uncurled fitfully against a torn hakama. 'Has the Oyaji come home yet?' He asked no one in particular, merely listening to the sound of his own weak voice in the hopes that it would stabilize the erratic beat of his heart. The left side of temple was _throbbing_ with excruciating pain again, a searing, all-encompassing, agony that was completely taking over his mind with every second that passed as an oppressive darkness swirled into the edges of his vision and he was forced to lean his head against a steady surface to balance his fading equilibrium. One of the guards must have broken off the deadly curved and sharp angled horn that jutted dangerously from the side of his head. One of the tricks of 'humiliation' that they oftentimes practised to bring his Hollow inheritance back in order. Kyou knew that even when the broken appendage on the left side of his head would grow back by tomorrow, either the right would be broken off next or they would both be cut off by the merciless swing of a Shinigami blade. He _truly_ hated the Shinigami, he thought to himself vindictively. To disfigure an Arrancar's cero point was blasphemous and degrading, stealing away the intense pride Kyou had always had in the deadly horns and two curving black estigma that was branded beneath his left eye to set him apart from anyone else in Seireitei…

And it hurt too when Ichigo loved his differences too, like they were deliberately defiling a pure connection that the older orangette had with his eternal Beloved. He had sworn to his very soul that never again would he consider saving the worthless city of lies they had protected before, _never_ again would he shield the unworthy from the devastation of his destructive powers. 'We'll blaze the trail of a thousand suns through this city one day…O-Otouto.' He chuckled insanely, sharpened canines cutting through a bloodied bottom lip in thought as the eldest Shiba raised his shattered Zanpactō in front of him challengingly. 'J-just waist for me…I-Ichi…my B-Beloved King.' A mournful tenor promised quietly. Tilting his head to the side curiously when a deep tremor travelled through the earth and up his fingertips, a vast array of thigh-length orange locks tickled across highly sensitized skin as a large portion of vibrant tangerine strands began to colour a deepening carmine from freshly spilled blood. Fuck! He was a complete mess, black claw-like fingertips coming to rest against the pitch black estigma that was burned on his chest around the place where his Hollow hole usually resided when he called the rest of his mask to him. Tracing a raised scar that was branded deeply into his skin, there was not even a flinch of pain travelling through his limbs as sharp nails drew blood and the partial Shinigami tried to root out the phantom pain of a two-year-old scar that hindered his breathing and made his chest ache whenever he thought of Ichigo.

In those moments Kyou was beginning to lose contact with reality, his mind shutting down bit by bit as the world darkened around the edges and the tip of a pink tongue danced across his fingertips to gather the taste of his own blood into his mouth absently. He just wanted the pain to go away, the guilt of not being able to protect his Ichi to vanish from his conscience, his soul to stop tremoring with terrified fear whenever he heard waraji clad footsteps approaching the other side of kidō sealed doors and to return to where he _truly_ belonged. Only, he was well aware that it was a pitiful wish. There was no hope down here, no mercy and _no_ salvation for the damned. The heavy shackles that were bound around his wrists, chaffing, bruising and bloodying his skin, were too strong to break and both his heart and power had been significantly weakened since the fight with Aizen. It did not matter how strong his will was, if his body did not match his natural vitality, it was a painful struggle to keep a sane mind and plan an artful escape. Eventually falling away into the abyss of despair when he could no longer fight against the pain, the thigh-length orangette must have drifted off for several hours of fitful rest and repetitive nightmares. Because when next he woke, his refined hearing could pick up the resounding echo of shuffling footsteps on the outside of sekkiseki doors.

Even with the reiatsu sealing stone having carved away his own reiryoku for several months now and weakening his powers, he could sense an immense presence reverberating on the other side as he barely had a chance to brace himself when the doors flew open and a deafening blast rocked powerfully through the entirety of the Muken. Golden eyes were struggling to focus on anything except a dense cloud of flying debris and heavy smoke, an overwhelming pressure pressing down on his chest when an oppressive and powerful reiatsu flooded the atmosphere without restraint and caused a hitched cry to catch painfully in Kyou's chest. He couldn't breathe, his heart straining under the sudden influx of reiatsu after being cut off from the world for so long as he gasped uselessly to try and steady his shattering world. Such overbearing strength, such steadfast command, such unusual gentleness too… The power felt so familiar to him, like he was simultaneously being burned alive from the inside out whilst enveloped in loving compassion and eternal comfort. Just _who _could—? Rushing footsteps were accentuated by rhythmic geta clad feet and the swish of heavy fabric, the thigh-length orangette straining to lift his head as pain glazed eyes eventually collided with a haunting pair of chocolate brown through a curtain of scruffy and bloodstained bangs he never thought he'd see again.

'…I-I…Ichi…' He couldn't speak, a sob of anguish and pure disbelief lodging in the back of his throat when he witnessed a vast array of emotions dancing so brightly in fathomless brown depths. His Beloved…god he was beautiful. He had grown taller over the years, his lithe frame enveloped evocatively in a complex formal kimono made up of pitch black hakama, a deep green kosode and a black floor-length haori that was tied with a large fluffy white haori-himo (2*). The inside of the garment of nobility was skilfully patterned with the turquoise and gold of the Shiba family, flowing in regal folds across bloodstained floors as black waraji closed the distance between them carefully and inverted Hollow eyes could not help but become utterly mesmerized by the two kenseikan (3*) that was clipped against the right side of Ichigo's temples and the two that rested atop his head in alignment with the left. Regardless of those mirroring orange locks being scruffily styled, falling into intense chocolate hued orbs and skittering playfully across pale cheeks, it was certainly the most beautiful that the older of twins had seen his brother. There was a sorrowful smile tugging heartbreakingly across luscious petal pink lips, elegant fingertips winding through thigh-length strand of dirty, tangled and matted orange locks as Kyou suddenly found his vision flooded with a searing pain and mournful tears of relief dripping shamefully down his cheeks.

'Ichigo…'

'K-Kyou-nii! I-I've searched for so long! I-I—.' Ichigo trailed off, neither of them having enough strength to voice the hundreds of emotions that were flowing so freely between them as weakened fingertips clasped the back of a black haori and a sweaty forehead came to rest against a steady shoulder. 'Please don't let this be a dream, please don't let this be a dream…' He muttered like a mantra, bathing his entire existence in a familiar scent of silk, ice, sharp spearmint and sweet chocolate. The texture of soft clothes between his fingertips, the vivid and oppressive pulse of a powerful reiatsu and all-encompassing familiarity of his beloved twin was simply too real for it to be a dream. But how? Ichigo's power was supposed to have been lost by using the Mugetsu technique, his Shinigami power sacrificed for the chance to defeat an unbeatable enemy. Maybe this was a dream and—. Stilling that thought right there when clawed fingertips accidentally brushed against a large Zanpactō draped across Ichigo's back, the older of the two was forced to grip the sides of his head with a scream of pain when it felt like his entire soul had just imploded with the awakening call of their shared Zangetsu. There was not only one voice pressing against his heart, but two screaming cries reverberating inside his head as several heaving breaths spilled passed pale lips and he looked down to see the smaller black blade that was suspended against the younger orangette's right hip from an intricate array of black chains and a thick golden sash.

'I-Ichigo you…what are you doing here?! I—.' Silenced abruptly when the smaller of the dual Zangetsu was drawn with swift elegance, the sound of chains shattering was uncommonly loud in the Muken as a steady grip helped him to his feet and Kyou stumbled with lost balance when the pressure of his little brother's reiatsu became too much to withstand and the influx of his own awakening powers started to flow like electricity through his veins. It was almost too much for his precarious consciousness, large black dots swirling in the peripheries of his vision as he fell weakly against Ichigo's side and panted uselessly for breath. Damn it! Kyou cursed vehemently. He never wanted his beloved to see him like this, to _know_ the vicious extent of the Central 46's cruelty. It was going to hurt Ichi and ignite the fierce protectiveness that run through their ancient bloodline without a doubt. And storming in to destroy their enemies was not something the older orangette could withstand in those moments, he was too weak to fight in any battle and his soul too unstable to be of any true help. Luckily that hadn't been a part of Ichigo's plan yet, the younger of two swiftly drawing his Onii-san into his arms without any hesitation as the slightly smaller and shorter frame trembled in his grasp and intense golden eyes burned through his soul with a gaze of unrestrained rage.

'P-put me down, King! I-I'm not a fuckin' princess! I can walk o-on my own, damn it…just give me a minute!' The oldest Shiba protested loudly, causing the messy orangette to chuckle softly as he tightened his grip around trembling thighs and straining shoulders to stop his brother from squirming too much. Several leaps and bounds of high-level shunpo was clearing the underground passages of the Muken without any true effort, hundreds of guards all struggling to keep up with his inherent speed as chocolate brown eyes stared ahead and willed his power into new heights. He couldn't_ bear_ to see it, the wind stinging his eyes as he blinked away the tears that were clinging to his lashes. His beloved's shattered form, that broken horn, the bloodied despair in golden eyes… Whoever had caused this, was going to pay. No one treated his family like that, no one dared to mess with what was rightfully his eternal soul companion. He would never forgive the trespasses against both their souls. Since Ichigo had been invited to the Reiōkyū to be blessed by the Reiou when he accepted the position of the 34th Head of the Shiba Clan three days before, the King of Souls had told him that his brother was still alive and sealed in the Muken. Up until then, the younger of the two had lived in mournful sorrow for two years as he grieved the loss of his eternal beloved and the most important person in his life.

To find out that he had been betrayed by his own great-grandfather and that his beloved Kyou-nii had been suffering horrendous tortures for _so_ long to protect him, had enraged Ichigo and prompted him to cast aside all ties he had to Seireitei before. With a few loyal friends: Byakuya, Renji, Rukia and his uncles Jyuushiro and Shunsui; they had successfully infiltrated the underground prison and opened a Senkaimon into Karakura where the Oyaji had been living for the last ten human years. He had even regained the power he had lost by submitting himself to rigorous training with the Head Priest of the Reiōkyū and reforged Zangetsu after his sealed reiatsu had been unlocked. The pain they had both endured, he would not let it go to waste. Not now, not ever…

'I'm sorry it took me so long, Onii-san,' He whispered apologetically, not stopping once when the gate into the Human World loomed threateningly in front of him and he caught sight of Senbonzakura's awe-inspiring strength sweeping through the guards' ranks to clear a path for them. 'I won't let you out of my sight again, I won't let anything bad happen anymore…I—.' Trailing off with emotional strain when an overly warm forehead came to rest against his shoulder and a warm wetness soaked steadily through his haori, chocolate brown eyes burned in sympathetic response the moment that a broken tenor called out to him mournfully. 'Lend me your shoulder for a bit, King. And d-don't you _dare_ stop running until this godforsaken hell is far behind.' Ichigo nodded obediently, finding just enough leeway to press a soothing kiss to the top of an orange head that trailed long thigh-length locks like a curtain of silk around them as he simply allowed himself to be bathed in the familiarity of Kyou's soul settling against his once more. The pulsing reiatsu may have been weak and fleeting, but that wild and unrestrained power was unmistakable…

'I love you, Kyou.' Ichigo said truthfully, _vowing_ to his very soul that he's never let go of this being that was encompassed in his arms…not for anyone.

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1* - Bakemono – Monster  
2* - Haori-himo – The tie in front of men's haori, it's made with tassels but when tied it looks like a round ball of fluff…white is the most formal colour it comes in  
3* - Kenseikan – The noble hairpieces that Byakuya wore before the time-skip, I think they'd fit Ichigo quite nicely if his hair is in the scruffy long style he possessed when stepping out of the Dangai to defeat Aizen

So, there you have it my honeys. The start of a new story. Thank for reading, I ask that you please leave me a review if you have enjoyed it…I would very much enjoy a review from my reader. They always make me so happy.

Other than that, I'm going to leave this here for now. If you have questions, please don't be afraid to ask…I'll answer them to the best of my ability.

I'll see my Honeys again soon,

Yours Always

Chocolate Carnival


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